Bryce Hoppel wins the 800m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 (© Getty Images)
Someone once wrote something about keeping your head while all about are losing theirs. Bryce Hoppel has clearly read it. And taken note.
While all about the US runner, the fancied contenders in the men’s 800m final were losing their heads on the closing night of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24, he made sure his remained intact.
The reward for the shrewd 26-year-old from Texas came within sight of the finish line.
Only then did Hoppel, the bronze medallist in Belgrade two years ago, show his hand.
Rounding the final turn, the 26-year-old moved level with Elliot Crestan before pulling smoothly clear of the Belgian in the final 10m to claim the gold medal in a world-leading 1:44.92.
Crestan, third in the European indoor final in Istanbul a year ago, was so crestfallen he faded to another bronze. Swede Andreas Kramer came through for silver in 1:45.27, with Crestan 0.05 behind – followed by Italy’s Catalin Tecuceanu, fifth in 1:46.39.
The big favourite, defending champion Mariano Garcia, finished a deflated fifth in 1:48.77.
The Spaniard performed his customary motorbike revving action on the start line but ran out of gas after busting a gut to overtake the robust Benjamin Robert, who barged past him at 100m.
The Frenchman was subsequently disqualified and, while Garcia led through halfway in 51.39, he got stuck in reverse after losing pole position to Crestan and then fleetingly overtaking him.
Crestan, a world U20 bronze medallist in Tampere back in 2018, used too much of his own gas too early, striving to pull decisively clear from the bell.
Hoppel bided his time and got his reward in gold: a third for the US in the world indoor men’s 800m, following the surprise successes of David Krummenacker in Birmingham in 2003 and Boris Berian in Portland in 2016
“Being finally able to grab that moment is incredible,” said Hoppel. “I think everything going on at this time is giving me a new level of confidence.
“Getting out there, I just feel amazing. I just feel self-control. I’ve been able to make that race go exactly how I wanted.
“It feels so unreal to be the world champion. It's so special to have that moment.
“I'm just happy to bring it back to the people who have been around me and made me listen to them.”
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics
| MEN'S 800m MEDALLISTS | ||
| 🥇 | Bryce Hoppel 🇺🇸 USA | 1:44.92 |
| 🥈 | Andreas Kramer 🇸🇪 SWE | 1:45.27 |
| 🥉 | Elliot Crestan 🇧🇪 BEL | 1:45.32 |
| Full results | ||
